{"id":12799,"date":"2006-04-01T18:58:00","date_gmt":"2006-04-02T03:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799"},"modified":"2023-02-06T21:34:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T05:34:58","slug":"when-an-adult-female-seeks-ritual-genital-alteration-ethics-law-and-the-parameters-of-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799","title":{"rendered":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Julie D Cantor<\/h4>\n\n\n
\n
\"Plastic
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Abstract<\/strong>
Ritual genital cutting for women, a common practice in Africa and elsewhere around the world, remains dangerous and controversial. In recent years, a 14-year-old girl living in Sierra Leone exsanguinated and died following a ritualistic genital cutting. Hoping to avoid that fate, women with backgrounds that accept ritual genital cutting may, when they reach majority age, ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons. Although plastic surgeons routinely perform cosmetic procedures, unique ethical and legal concerns arise when an adult female patient asks a surgeon to spare her the tribal elder’s knife and alter her genitalia according to tradition and custom. Misinformation and confusion about this issue exist. This article explores the ethical and legal issues relevant to this situation and explains how the thoughtful surgeon should proceed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Cantor JD. When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation<\/a>. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2006 Apr 01;117(4):1158-1164. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julie D Cantor AbstractRitual genital cutting for women, a common practice in Africa and elsewhere around the world, remains dangerous and controversial. In recent years, a 14-year-old girl living in Sierra Leone exsanguinated and died following a ritualistic genital cutting. Hoping to avoid that fate, women with backgrounds that accept ritual genital cutting may, when … Continue reading “When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,2,559,1868],"tags":[1867],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-12799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-journal-article","category-law","category-surgery-health-care","tag-julie-d-cantor"],"yoast_head":"\r\nWhen an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurgog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurgog.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\"},\"headline\":\"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799\"},\"wordCount\":176,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/plasticreconsurg.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Julie D Cantor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"Journal Articles\",\"Law\",\"Surgery\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799\",\"name\":\"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/plasticreconsurg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/plasticreconsurg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/plasticreconsurg.jpg\",\"width\":170,\"height\":230,\"caption\":\"Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=12799#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"width\":1123,\"height\":1376,\"caption\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencpro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\",\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Project Administrator\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.consciencelaws.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library","og_description":"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.","og_url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","article_published_time":"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurgog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Project Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurgog.jpg","twitter_creator":"@consciencpro","twitter_site":"@consciencpro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Project Administrator","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799"},"author":{"name":"Project Administrator","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098"},"headline":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation","datePublished":"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799"},"wordCount":176,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurg.jpg","keywords":["Julie D Cantor"],"articleSection":["Ethics","Journal Articles","Law","Surgery"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799","name":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation - Protection of Conscience Project Library","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurg.jpg","datePublished":"2006-04-02T02:58:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T05:34:58+00:00","description":"Adult women from cultures that accept ritual genital cutting may ask plastic surgeons to perform genital alterations for cultural reasons.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/plasticreconsurg.jpg","width":170,"height":230,"caption":"Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=12799#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When an adult female seeks ritual genital alteration: Ethics, law, and the parameters of participation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protecton of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","width":1123,"height":1376,"caption":"Protecton of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencpro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098","name":"Project Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Project Administrator"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org"],"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16031,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12799\/revisions\/16031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12799"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=12799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}